Senior leads volunteers to feed West Side neighbors

By Vincent T. Davis :
July 8, 2012
: Updated: July 8, 2012 10:51pm

For 13 years, Ida B. Joyner, 84, has volunteered with the nonprofit organization, Making a Difference, to distribute food to residents in need on the West Side. As pantry manager, Joyner has led several seniors at an old cinder block building, providing breakfasts sponsored by the San Antonio Food Bank and making sure that no one leaves empty handed.

Ida B. Joyner's Friday begins at 5 a.m., hours before she and her crew open up a West Side pantry to feed those in need. By 5:45 a.m., she's a passenger in 83-year-old Inez Currington's blue truck, en route to 216 Purcell, where they meet Hattie Dean, Thelma Jackson and Ann Robinson at the nonprofit, We Are Making a Difference.

For the past 12 1/2 years, her crew has followed her plan. They divide and stuff bread, vegetables and sweets — bought at the San Antonio Food Bank — into bags for an average of 120 people lining up outside.

At the end of a six-hour shift, she and her crew stack crates, sweep and mop, leaving the place ready for the next shift.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are pick-up and prep days, where Joyner, 84, leads a smooth operation.

The mother of seven children follows lessons she learned in rural Navasota, where her parents shared produce with neighbors during hard times.

“It makes me feel good to know I'm helping somebody,” she said. “I'd rather be doing this than sitting at home.”

Two years after her husband, Harold, died in 1997, she heard about the nonprofit and volunteered when its purpose was to feed children enrolled in a 12-week summer program at Acme Park. Founder Patrick McKinley, 54, said he originally created the nonprofit to give back to the community and offer children an alternative to gangs and drugs.

Sponsors of We Are Making a Difference include the Edgewood Independent School District, which lets the group use the old George Washington Carver Elementary School, where once only black children attended. It has also received help from Washington Real Estate and small donors, McKinley said, but there are days when the workers have all paid for food out of their pockets.

When food is on sale, Joyner takes more than $100 of her own money she's tucked away each month and buys items not included on regular runs. McKinley said they're running on “prayer and ambition” and couldn't meet their mission without the volunteers.

“Ms. Joyner and the ladies have been there for the community,” McKinley, said, adding, “They've really stepped up to the plate. They do it for nothing; they feel it's their job to make a difference.”

Joyner's crew of friends share her philosophy.

“It's a lot of work, but we're here to serve the people,” said Dean, 61, whose mother used to help. “We enjoy doing it.”

She's had help with computers from her son, Mike, and heavy lifting from Wayne Beck Sr.

“They help everyone,” Beck said. “They go out to do things that others won't do; we need more people in the world like them.”

Clerk Janice Ramirez was once a client, standing in line for food to feed her children. Inspired by Joyner's work, she volunteered to help. Now she runs the intake line and carries bags to clients.

Joyner said there's one constant that keeps her coming back to feed the lines of people — “They always say thank you.”